PushingTin

As much as a complain about UA, and I have some stuff on the last trip, the Polaris lounge in ORD exceeded my expectations. The food and facilities were very nice, but what blew me away was how politie, helpful and attentive the staff were- all of them. Ate at the ‘Bistro’ and the service was excellent. In the current days of having trouble getting workers to show up, let alone do their jobs, the staff were on par with a high end restaurant. Kudos to UA and the Polaris team.

Of course, it only makes me more jaded in some regards- great service is possible if you seem to literally throw money at it. And the upcoming coach domestic travel will be a real let down…. I’ve seen the promised land….

United747

Nice visit tonight, not terribly busy. ~30 minutes for a seat at the dining room around 4:30






“medium rare” burger and overcooked cookie, but still better that what’s onboard.

omxfl

Went to Polaris lounge after it took us two hours from landing on UA906 (FRA) to re-entering the airport at T1. Pathetic...

Got there around 5:30, put my name down for restaurant and was told 35 min. Saw a family of four walk into the lounge and being seated straight away. Ah well... Was finally seated around 6:45. Servers are friendly but it was very chaotic. They came several times with dishes out of the kitchen and had no clue who ordered what. Food was good, starter & main, but left after waiting some 10 min for dessert. They need someone to sort this out.

One pet peeve of mine are people who just continue to sit at their table once done and thereby block it for others to use the restaurant. That's just plain entitlement and disrespectful.

The lady serving drinks at the bar was also tired/frustrated. I'm not sure what the issue is - pay, rude people? But UA needs to have a closer look at this and retrain staff & pay them more I think.

Just my two cents, of course.

fmpacheco

Hi All. Does anyone know if I can store my carry-on bag for a few hours at the lounge? I have a long connection at ORD and need to go to a meeting outside the airport. Would prefer to not bring my carry-on bag...

omxfl

At SFO's Polaris Lounge this appears to be a no:
Luggage Hold at SFO Polaris Lounge

I also don't recall any lockers in the lounge you could (ab)use for this purpose.

It doesn't hurt asking the desk agents, but I highly doubt they would accommodate this due to 'security concerns' etc.

cheltzel

Take a look at this thread in the US - Midwest forum, specifically post #431. It is one of the long layover threads and there are people who have posted on the thread saying they were able to do a "left luggage" service at the Hilton (directly connected to the domestic terminals) for a fee. .

This information is a couple of years old so YMMV.

goodeats21

Nothing like that available in the lounge

st530

I'm not suggesting you do this (and you might not want to anyway if you're concerned about valuables), but with the heavy volume of in-and-out traffic, a bag left on/near a seat/cubicle for a couple of hours probably wouldn't draw much scrutiny. And if at some point it did, I imagine when you returned to the PL you could just sheepishly say you stepped out to the terminal for a call that ran much longer than you expected.

Global321

I will take "Thing you should not do at an airport in a post 9/11 paranoid era for $200, Alex."

Will it go bad, probably not.
Could you run into an overzealous agent who removes the bag/calls security/etc. Possibly.

There are better options.

Ryan Harder

I’m on the late night flight to Munich (9:10pm) in a couple weeks - I recall that during Covid the sit down restaurant had reduced operating hours. Can anyone share if the hours are the same as the lounge (ie open until 9pm)?

Thanks!

mpw81

We were on the same flight in F last week and had dinner in the lounge, walked over to the gate and were early enough to still grab a drink in the united club right there. People were sitting down in the dining area of the Polaris lounge as we were leaving and they were still putting names on the list. You cannot expect to leave at 9pm to catch the LH flight to MUC, though.

el344

We are flying CHA - ORD - LHR on Tuesday in Polaris. I have not flown United before and never connected in ORD, so I'm hoping for expert advice.

We arrive at 6:43 pm and leave on the 9:10 pm flight to LHR. I've been watching the flight from CHA, and it sometimes lands at the B concourse and sometimes at the F concourse. The LHR flight departs from the C concourse. Assuming the flight from CHA is on time, we could be at the Polaris lounge by 7:15 or shortly thereafter. How crowded is it apt to be at that time? Is there likely to be a line to get into the lounge? If the Polaris lounge is overcrowded, is the other United club in the C concourse also likely to be overcrowded?

Coming back on Saturday, June 10 we get into ORD at 4:00 PM and leave for CHA at 8:00 pm, and I have the same questions about lounges.

If I were flying Delta and connecting in ATL, I would not even attempt to go to the lounge. When I flew through ATL in January, the line for the lounge was 20 minutes long, and when I did get in there was nowhere to sit. I'm hoping the same won't be true for United.

WineCountryUA

Should be no problem at that time. While PLs can get crowded, DL-like lines are not a UA problem. Very occasional short lines at UCs.

You may be arriving at just the end of the peak and it will get better quickly

Yes DL has had some some line issues, Believe DL has been trying to address the issue.

el344

Thanks! All good news!

hirohito888

Arrived at lounge at around 1.15PM, waited 5min for a table. Service was all fine until 2PM shift change and things got busy. Food came out slower, and there was a waitlist of 45-90min. Lounge was also pretty packed from 2PM to around 3.30PM. Mostly the TATL flights and also the late afternoon NH HND flight.

Champagne was Lanson.

They had these warm towels at the entrance

Menu

Soup - it had a nice spicy kick to it

Cheese

Arctic char - found the portion a bit small

Chocolate mousse